Conflict Sensitive Delivery

'Under immense pressure to quickly stabilize insecure districts, U.S. government agencies spent far too much money, far too quickly, in a country woefully unprepared to absorb it. Money spent was often the metric of success. As a result, programming sometimes exacerbated conflicts, enabled corruption, and bolstered support for insurgents. Coalition relationships with, and aid and contracts given to, Afghanistan’s elites created new grievances and inflamed old ones as some groups benefited from the war, while others were alienated and driven toward the insurgency.' (US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction).

Delighted this week to host Dr Teri Murphy, the Coordinator for Peace Studies at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at Ohio State University. Teri has already facilitated conflict sensitivity training for our teams in Amman and Beirut, drawing on her extensive experience and expertise. Teri has been actively engaged in conflict interventions and peacebuilding in international contexts for the past 25 years. As a scholar-practitioner, Teri’s applied research takes place in conflict-affected settings including Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Turkey/Syria, and the MENA region. Complementing ARK's own approach, her particular focus is on developing culturally adaptive and complexity sensitive policies and practices for relief, stabilisation, development, and transitional processes.

Working in many of the most challenging environments around the world, we have an obligation to go beyond Do No Harm and aspire to generate positive impact that builds peace where possible. As such, we need to reflect honestly on how we design, deliver and assess interventions to move beyond intent and look at the consequences, intended and unintended, of our actions and our attempts to work in, on and around conflict. By reviewing our current and past programmes and approaches with Teri, as a company we aspire to deliver more conflict sensitive programmes that meet the needs of our clients and beneficiaries whilst acknowleding our responsibilities within each conflict ecosystem we work in.